The FM24 Youth Academy Challenge

[Skora11]

 

 

RC Jaen Season 26/27

The upward trajectory continued as we managed to better our previous two seasons and finish the season as champions.

A win on the last day of the season was enough to secure the title by 2 points after runners up Albacete B won only 1 of their last 5 matches.

While this was great for the club, our best players had been wanting to leave to seek a new challenge and even after winning the title, they couldn't be convinced to stay. This meant the next season would be a struggle, with around half the squad made up of players under 20 and not yet ready for Federation 1. Although the board did revert back to their Pro status which at least meant full time training and development for the youngsters.

Some nice youngsters in my new intake but none quite ready to be thrown straight into the first team. A couple will become mainstays of the first team squad further down the line though.

[Skora11]

 

RC Jaen Season 27/28

Not much to report this season. The young team battled to the end but results didn't quite go our way on the last game of the season and we went straight back down. A good experience which would stand us in good stead for the upcoming season. No youth intake screen as had not taken a screenshot.

RC Jaen Season 28/29

After relegation the club had to return to being semi-pro. Even in Federation 1 the club was making a loss each month and had to rely on cash injections from the board. Our youngsters were really starting to progress though and managed promotion via the play-offs at the first time of asking back in the 4th tier of Spanish football. A great season for a team filled with 17-20 year olds.

RC Jaen Season 29/30

The 3rd tier of Spanish football proved a step too far once again, but like the last time we were extremely unfortunate not to stay up on the last day of the season. Most other seasons 42 points would have been enough to survive but we were relegated due o H2H against Algeciras. Relegation means back to being Semi-pro, however I was confident the squad had now grown enough to be able to compete and challenge for the title in the 4th tier, and if we go back up then we would have a great chance of staying there!

Edited Friday at 17:02 by Skora11

[mschafer13]

Taking a break from Denmark with a new challenge - Club Cipolletti in Argentina

 

Decent starting facilities, have certainly had worse in Denmark

 

Still, we were picked to finish dead last, with 3000-1 title odds

 

In the end, we finished 15th place, 14 points clear of relegation playoff, so we'll count the first season as a win

 

Couple decent kids in the intake, but we are very much heading into debt, so next season could be tricky

[JD78]

 

Bekescsaba 1912, Hungary

Season 24/25

Decided to start a new save. Had enough of Scotland for now. The appeal with Hungary was that there's only 2 playable divisions and they're both professional. Not played with a pro team for months so hoping to enjoy some faster progress for my players, we will see! Wanted a chance to finish before fm25 too. Fingers crossed. Also,I don't think anyone has completed Hungary before if the table is up to date?

 

Straight away I could see that the players were much, much better than I was used to seeing in the Scottish Championship. My team were predicted to finish 12/16 but I was hopeful I could do well after seeing the players. Things got a bit difficult though. There's a rule in this league that you must have 2 U20 players in the match squad and at least one U20 player on the pitch at all times. Fine for a YO save you'd think but for some reason there was no U20 players in my very small squad. Not sure why they didn't get a youth intake during the year of the holiday season but there we are. Next hiccup was a player getting a long term injury. I was still confident we'd finish above the bottom 2 and that's all the board wanted.

So 2 greyed out players were in the squad until the youth intake which was a bit of a pain as you had to select them every game, they didn't even stay in the saved 11. I could put up with it for 1 season though. I used a 424 tactic and usually had the grey player as the second striker and we did ok. After an inconsistent start we found some form and finished the season 5th. Just the top 2 go up automatically here, no playoffs. I was pleased with that though and the board were delighted and gave me a 2 year contract. They also let me do 2 coaching courses straight away. 

Facilities

Everything started quite low, around level 4 or 5. The club has a bit of money in the bank though and they agreed to an improvement of 1 step in training and youth facilities over the season. There were also 2 upgrades for junior coaching and youth recruitment. Lucky!

Youth intake

It was pretty good, can't complain! Forgot to take screenshots bit I'll upload next time. Best player was a left back. I already have a very good left back so I'm retraining the youth player to play right back as he has 2 good feet. Well see how that progresses next season. I'm hoping this player will cover the '1 U20 player on the pitch at all times' rule for the majority of games. There's also a winger that looks pretty useful. 

Hoping to push on for top 2 next season.

 

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Certainly one of the odder games I've had on this FM, needed 3 points to guarantee a spot in the knockouts and we did it in style.

[V50]

23 hours ago, Padders said:

Prime example of the awful players we get

2 and half stars and 4 potential

Just look at his stats,  rubbish

1 star to 2.5 star doesn't look much different with those stats, I'd just take a season of pain and put in a bunch of youngsters with the highest stars and/or best personalities. Anyone wit ha hint of professionalism and determination...

[Skora11]

 

RC Jaen Season 30/31

This is where the save really starts to get going. There were no out and out wonderkids come through the academy at Los Iagartos but there had been plenty with good potential and personalities.  These players now had experience of playing at a higher level and had 100 plus games under their belt. I was extremely confident going into the season that we could bounce straight back up once again, and the team proved me right by romping to the title and winning it with an 8 point margin.

I was now confident that going up a division wouldn't be too much for my players and could make a real go at finishing higher up the league than the previous attempts and have little to no danger of being involved in a relegation battle. The only disappointment to the season was the relatively poor youth intake where the only elite talent had a poor personality. David Estevez was the pick of the bunch and one that may have a chance of breaking through.

 

[Skora11]

 

RC Jaen Season 31/32

Heading into the season I was confident the squad was good enough to avoid relegation and finish around mid-table. However the season exceeded expectations and we were flying high in the play-off positions for basically the whole season. We hit a bit of a slump towards the end of the season but back to back victories in the final 2 matches of the season clinched 5th spot and a play-off match against Valladolid B. The expectations were low as we were just delighted to be there, but in the end we ran out comfortable 4-0 winners over the two legs. Next up was Villarreal B and again we went into the match as underdogs. We came out flying in the first leg and found us 2-0 inside the first 30 minutes and managed to add a third late in the game. The second-leg was all about keeping hold off our advantage and we managed to do that comfortably drawing 2-2.

 

Not only did we exceed expectations in the league but our youth intake was the best we had had in years. The picks of the bunch were Rua and Tome who both look as if they could break into the first team within a season or two.

 

Things were really starting to look up at RC Jaen with finally starting to build a positive bank balance and we were going into the Second division as clear favourite for relegation but plenty of optimism for the future of the club. The money on offer will be absolutely game changing and allow us to progress both on and off the park.

[petro_buchkovskyi]

On 23/01/2024 at 16:38, Johann said:

Can someone explain why is this happens? There's nothing in the rules about it.

 

LNZ Cherkasy has 32 pts at Group Stage, and at the Promotion Stage has only 5 pts.

Obolon got 23 pts at Group Stage and 19 pts at Relegation Stage.

 

All Groups

Promotion Stage

Relegation Stage

 

It doesnt make any sense, and its very annoying. 

I'm from Ukraine and I can explain it)

in the promotion league--promotional stage
points are taken into account only with the teams that took places 1-4

in the relegation league - relegation stage
points are taken into account only with the teams that took places from 5-9

if you have this save, review it according to these rules and you will see that it makes sense)

translated through a translator, so sorry

[Padders]

OMG 

First player over 2.5 stars in 180 seasons

Of course he wants a minimum release clause (locked in and no agent) of just £13m 

Edited 18 hours ago by Padders

[Skora11]

24 minutes ago, Padders said:

OMG 

First player over 2.5 stars in 180 seasons

Of course he wants a minimum release clause (locked in and no agent) of just £13m 

Is there not a way you try and change contract offer and can get rid of it as it won’t be locked? Then just give him a big wage.

[Koetzer]

NK Kustošija Zagreb | Croatia

Manager profile

Trying to complete this challenge for Croatia. Kustošija never played in a top division, but has good youth setup.

Squad

Our best players are 25 or younger which is certainly good. Midfield is the strongest line with Šroler, Vajdovčić and Lovren (Dejan’s brother), but we lack a decent striker.

[Padders]

2 hours ago, Skora11 said:

Is there not a way you try and change contract offer and can get rid of it as it won’t be locked? Then just give him a big wage.

Went back and spoke to agent (no agent first time) and removed clause

On two year deal and option of 3 year extension 

[Padders]

Season 180 - 2200/01 - SBC

Promoted straight back to PL, finishing 2nd

Gone more Pep=ball and scored 105 goals

The back 4 are still poor

[Neo_Geo]

1 hour ago, Koetzer said:

NK Kustošija Zagreb | Croatia

Manager profile

Trying to complete this challenge for Croatia. Kustošija never played in a top division, but has good youth setup.

Squad

Our best players are 25 or younger which is certainly good. Midfield is the strongest line with Šroler, Vajdovčić and Lovren (Dejan’s brother), but we lack a decent striker.

Good luck, I enjoyed managing them just got tired of the youth ruling.

it’s a really strong starting squad, made a big difference on the field.

[Skora11]

1 hour ago, Padders said:

Went back and spoke to agent (no agent first time) and removed clause

On two year deal and option of 3 year extension 

Great stuff, and a defender that you desperately needed!

[mpm2342]

1 hour ago, Padders said:

Season 180 - 2200/01 - SBC

Promoted straight back to PL, finishing 2nd

Gone more Pep=ball and scored 105 goals

The back 4 are still poor

If you can't stop them, don't let them have the ball    Very nice season to go straight back up.

Season 180 ... what does your coach look like now?  are they 200 years old , or does the game force a replacement?

[Koetzer]

29 minutes ago, Neo_Geo said:

Good luck, I enjoyed managing them just got tired of the youth ruling.

Yes, it's a bit annoying, have to use third GK as a starter (he isn't much worse than two others though).

[mpm2342]

Crewe United 2040 Season Update

Season 16 Update:

Another successful season where we finished 3rd comfortably. Got off to a shaky start and had me worried for a while, but then got on a roll in the middle and end of the season. Europe prize money is now essential for the club as we are losing a lot every month. There is no domestic revenue to speak of as we only sell out 2,000 seats at home for two clubs.  I estimate we need about £800K to cover a season, so no more facilities upgrades until we can advance further in Europe and build up a cushion,

Transfers:

Spoiler

 

Youth Candidates:

The streak is alive and well with another "golden generation" that is 16 in a row, every season so far with one youth player who will make the squad day one - McKinney

Quite a mix of personalities this intake, but the good players are workable.

Squad Update:

Here is how the squad is rated heading into next season. Nice improvement from Breen who was out on loan and developed enough to step into the lineup. Patterson complained last season that he wanted to play with better players/team, so we agreed that he would be sold if a team offered £235K. Funny enough last season I was worried it would happen, but now Still has developed to be essentially the same rating, so I would really like it to happen ... lol.  Won't sell him though because depth is always good. Some shuffling of the depth chart in other places due to growth.

The squad rating improve 0.6 rating points, slower growth, but a definite closing of the gap to the backups and youth, so the squad is much more sustainable at this level now.

Bingo

Couple of squares I missed that were completed earlier

 

[Neo_Geo]

On 27/09/2024 at 13:58, XaW said:

Had a look in the editor, and I have a suspicion it won't happen if the "Trophy type" is not set:

If you can point to the file (url or upload) I can have a look for you?

It's set as a National Cup 1:

I'll see what happens if I win it again

[darren1983]

We're the best in the league